The main purpose of this study was to review the measurements that are related to the corporate governance. A close look at the literature of corporate governance and firm performance reveals that different measures have been used by the researchers to measure the performance. They classified those measurements into accounting-based and market-based indicators. Performance measurement has great significance in effective management of an organization and in the enhancement of the processes since only measurable things is manageable. Hence, the enhancement of the organizational performance requires some measurements to determine the impact of the level of organizational effectiveness upon business performance. This study can act as a reference to the researchers who are concerned with the firm performance measurements.

The core aim of this study is to examine the relationship between board characteristics and the firm performance of non-financial listed Kuwaiti firms. To achieve the objectives of the study, the data were collected from a sample of 136 companies for the financial year 2009. Variables such as CEO duality, COE tenure, audit committee size, board size and board composition were considered as predictors of the firm performance that was measured employing the return on assets (ROA). By contrast, the effects of CEO tenure and leverage on firm performance were found to be negative and significant at the chosen level of significance. To test the hypotheses of the study, multiple linear regression analysis using SPSS 18.0 was utilized. Using the firm size and leverage as a control variable, the findings of the study support the positive effects of CEO duality and audit committee size on ROA. Other findings of the study were discussed in the discussion section and some other future study directions were provided.

This study is an attempt to achieve the main objective by examining the association between the board of director's characteristics, audit committee characteristics and the executive committee characteristics and the performance of the Oman companies. This study used many assumptions to test the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable as discussed in the section explaining the study method. The data comprised of 162 non-financial companies because financial and non-financial companies employ different methods and they have different structures. As this study attempts to bridge the gap in the existing literature by investigating the association between corporate governance mechanisms and firm performance in the emerging market of Oman, it focuses on adding new important variables of corporate governance mechanisms like board change, the role of secretary on the board, the legal counsel and the executive committee characteristics that improve firm performance.The findings indicated a significantly positive relationship between board size, board meeting, audit committee independence and executive committee independence, and the Tobin`s Q. On the other hand, board independence and legal counsel are significantly and negatively related to Tobin`s Q. Moreover, a positive but insignificant relationship is found between CEO tenure, CEO compensation, audit committee size, and the firm performance (Tobin`s Q). Furthermore, board change, the role of the secretary on the board, audit committee meeting, executive committee size and executive committee meeting are revealed to have a negative but insignificant association with firm performance (Tobin`s Q). Finally, this study provides recommendations for future research.

Purpose -Two main objectives and they are: to determine whether the internal audit department of the companies listed in the Bursa Malaysia complies with the Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditors IIA (2000); and, to determine whether compliance to SPPIA will affect the quality of the internal control system of the company. Design/methodology/approach -Two sets of questionnaires were used in the study. Internal auditing practices was measured by the items listed in the SPPIA and the internal control was measured by means of the statement on internal control: guidance for directors of public listed companies. The population used in this study was all the companies listed in the Bursa Malaysia in 2001. This study used both descriptive and inferential analyses. Findings -It was found that management of internal audit department, professional proficiency, objectivity and review significantly influence the monitoring aspect of the internal control system. Scope of work and performance of audit work significantly influences the information and communication aspect of the internal control system while performance of audit work, professional proficiency and objectivity significantly influence the control environment aspect of the internal control system. The study also shows that management of internal audit department, performance of audit work, audit program and audit reporting significantly influences the risk assessment aspect of the internal control system. Lastly, performance of audit work and audit reporting significantly influences the control activities aspect of the internal control system. Research limitations/implications -The research has contributed to the agency theory with respect to the bonding costs that management has to pay to the internal auditors for the best interest of the principals of the companies. Another important implication pertains to the extent of the internal auditing practices among internal auditors in Malaysian public listed companies. Research has also shown that the compliance with internal auditing practices partially influence certain aspects of the quality of the internal control system. Originality/value -This is the first empirical study that has linked the compliance of the internal auditing function to the SPPIA and its effect on the internal control system.

The problem in accounting conservatism practice has been the focus of everyone. In our view, it was attributed amongst other factors to the weak of corporate governance practices. Such study develops an empirical model on the association between some mechanisms of corporate governance and accounting conservatism in terms of foreign ownership, board independence, board size and audit committee, through choosing Jordanian listed companies as research sample. The data were collected through using the annual reports of 113 Jordanian companies for year 2011. Four hypotheses were developed in this study. Upon using the multiple regression analysis, three of them were significant while one was not. This study concludes that there is a positive and significant association between each of foreign ownership, board independence and audit committee and accounting conservatism. While a negative and insignificant relationship between board size and conservatism. In addition, this study opens up opportunities and provides avenues for more in-depth research related to the accounting conservatism.